Hosiery.



PATENTED APR. 28 1903.

N., F. HURDEL.

HOSIBRY.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV 2, 1900.

N0 MODEL.

/ VE/V TOR WITNESSES UNITED STATES NELLIE FRANCES HURDEL, OF NEW YORK,N. Y.

HOSIERY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 726,300, dated April28, 1903.

' Application filed November 2, 1900. Serial No. 35,244. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NELLIE FRANCES HUR- DEL, a citizen of the UnitedStates of America, and a resident of the borough of Manhattan, city,county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Hosiery, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to stockings; and it consists in the novel featuresas will be hereinafter more particularly pointed out.

It is a well-known fact that thefeet and knees of stockings, andespecially those of children, wear out much more quickly than the legportions, and unless they are darned or patched in some manner theentire stocking must be thrown away.

My invention has for its object to provide a satisfactory means ofrefooting andflpaton ing such worn stockings, and it consists in makingthe foot and leg. portions separable and in prov ing. Pdliflblepatch forthe knee, whereby the foot and patch may be replaced without the lossandexpense of makinga new leg.

In the accompanying drawings, in which the same reference -n111neralsindicate the same part in each of the views in which it occurs, Figure 1is a longitudinal view of a stocking, showingthe foot and patch portionseparated from the leg. Fig. 2'is'a similar View showing the-samesecured together by means of athread. Fig. 3 is a modified form showinga double selvage with the leg there in, and Fig. 4 is an enlarged detailview of a portion of the leg or patch. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail viewshowing how edges are joined. I

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 1 indicates the leg portionof the stocking, 2 the foot, which is joined thereto by the seam 3, andt is a patch at the knee, which is secured to the leg by means of theseams 5 and 6.

As most of the wear of the foot comes on the heel and toe, it is onlynecessary to form a sort of slipper that does not extend to the ankleand then make the leg long enough to meet it and be secured thereto.

If the edges of the leg and foot were of the usual thickness, a seam orwelt would be formed where they are doubled or overlapped,

the selvage which would make it uncomfortable to the wearer as well asunsightly in appearance. To obviate this difficulty, I form the edge oredges of the foot by passing the loops or stitches of the last-knittedcourse through two or more loops or stitches of the preceding course ata time, which will thereby reduce the thickness of the seam one-half andpermit the two edges being joined together without such a thick seam. Inother words, the thread of the last-knitted course is passed through aplurality of loops of the preceding course at a time in lieu of throughsingle loops, as is usual. This structure results in locking theselvage-loops with the preceding course and prevents the distortion ofsaid loops. The edge of the foot when formed in this manner will appearas shown in Fig. 4, where 7 indicates the ordinary stitches or loops,and 8 indicates the stitches of the last course. The edges of the patchon the knee are formed in the same manner. In Fig. 5 I have shown moreparticularly how the selvage edges thus formed are joined together bymeans of a thread which passes alternately through the loops of the twoselvage edges.

When it is desired to replace either the foot or the patch, it is onlynecessary to remove the stitch or thread and the two parts becomeseparated. A new piece of material is then applied to the leg andsecured thereto by a new thread, and the stocking is again ready foruse.

Although I have shown and described my invention as applied tostockings, it is evident that it may be applied to knit fabrics in whicha reinforce is to be applied, and it is also evident that two or morerows of the stitches or loops 8 may be formed on the edge instead ofonly one, and if so desired the bottom edge of the leg might besimilarly formed, but in the opposite manner-that is, with the loops soarranged that they will alternate with the loops on the foot, so thatwhen the two edges were made to abut against each other the overlappingportions would only be of the same thickness as the remaining portionsof the stocking or fabric and avoid making a thick seam or welt at theplace of union.

When it is desired to make an easy and quick repair of an ordinarystocking, the foot or knee patch or band is formed with two selvages 0fthe same material, the outer selvage being a trifle longer than theinner, and between these said selvages is placed a raw edge of astocking, to which the edge of the said selvages are secured bystitching the same thereto in the ordinary manner.

From the foregoing it will be seen that my invention can be made by anyone skilled in knitting stockings or fabrics by hand.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

l. As a new article of manufacture, a knit fabric, the edge of which hasthe loops on the last-knitted course passed through aless number ofloops than in the preceding course whereby the selvage edge is formed ofless bulk than the body of the fabric.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a knitted fabric the loops of thelast-knitted course of which pass through two loops of the precedingcourse.

3. As anew article of manufacture, a stocking provided with a separablefoot and a patched portion of the knee, the last-knitted course of thefoot and patched portion passing through a plurality of loops of thepreceding course at a time in lieu of through single loops, and a threador stitch by which the said parts are connected.

4. As a new article of manufacture, a knitted fabric having a selvageformed by passing the loops of the last knitted course through aplurality of loops of the preceding course, the loops of thelast-knitted course being thereby locked with the said preceding course.

Signed at New York city this 12th day of October, '1 900.

NELLIE FRANCES I-IURDEL.

Witnesses:

RITA BRADT, FRED E. TASKER.

